Westminstenders: All bets are off

[RedToothBrush]

We are seeking an extension. Apparently. No prizes for guessing why.

There is no news but COVID news. And that's all there will be for a long time.

Enjoy your stockpile and your sunny uplands it brought.

Keep safe.

Oh, and I weirdly lost my sense of smell, which is apparently one of the odd symptoms caused by covid19 but not sure if that's been medically acknowledged anywhere.

songs hoping you're feeling better. I've been similar but nowhere near as bad. I got fobbed off as soon as they saw I was asthmatic, despite having a few days of high temperature and flu like symptoms. It was literally i see you're asthmatic, it's an asthma attack. I've never had an attack like this in my life, and it felt a lot more like the nasty chest infection I had last year than asthma. They weren't interested as I didn't currently have a temperature, even though I had the day before. I'm feeling better now though.
I have a relative of a friend turned away too though they were convinced it was covid, the relative wasn't ill enough for now to be hospitalised. A few weeks ago and they would have been. No testing happening there either.

And theabc and others at the moment - hope you recover well

A selfish fucker, who knew?

Wetherspoon's boss says shutdown would be 'over the top' www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51972422

A friend of mine who lives in London has an auto-immune condition and the symptoms. After eventually getting through to 101, she was told to go onto A&E (because of her condition) and expect to be kept in. At A&E, her test showed that she had a Corona virus but it will take a few days to determine if it was Covid-19.

Because she was still ambulatory, relatively young and had someone to care for her at home, she got sent home to ride it out as there were people coming in who were in a far worse condition than she was.

ABC Best wishes for a speedy recovery 💐

New laws going through Parliament would protect the military from past & future criminal charges abroad and in NI

"The Overseas Operations Bill" will:

• put a 5 year time limit on new prosecutions of British troops overseas

• compel future governments to consider opting out of the European Convention on Human Rights for new conflicts.

• impose a 6 year moratorium on all civil claims and Human Rights Act legal suits.

In parallel, the NI SoS is bringing in a bill to stop further investigations of British troops for killings committed during the Troubles.

This would stop dozens of ongoing police investigations in NI

Thank you to pp who posted the Leo Varadker speech.
I was on this thread a while back Under a different user name.
Glad to see it is still measured and thoughtful Compared to the hysteria on some of the CV threads.

I’m in France, we are under lockdown and I’m very grateful for it.

Did you see all the cars and buses in the background of MH's interview just now? No deserted streets there.. so much for the reputed imminient lockdown.

Cases really ramping up in Germany, France, Spain

imo all 3 - and probably others too - should now move to the strictest form of lockdown, as in Italy
I hear that e.g. teens are still holding barbecue parties etc at each others homes here (Germany) - teens seem to be the least compliant

However, the German public may not yet be sufficiently scared, see opinion polls attached,
even though most are at least taking precautions

For obvious historical reasons, both govt and public are anxious about draconian emergency laws

• and several decades since of being told why this is so dangerous

Merkel in her recent speech was explaining the current laws and maybe preparing the public that stricter needs to come.

She made a rare reference to growing up in the communist DDR / East Germany:

"Let me assure you:
for someone like myself, for whom freedom of travel and movement were hard-won rights,
such restrictions can only be justified when they are absolutely necessary.

In a democracy, they should not be enacted lightly – and only ever temporarily.
But at the moment they are essential - in order to save human lives."

"Hamsterverkauf" seems the one action that the public everywhere is taking - and not the most useful

The toilet roll may soon need to be declared a protected species

FizzyLimes I posted Varadkar's speech because I was so impressed with him
He really rose to emergencies like Brexit and now this, a 100 x worse crisis

It was after listening to one of BJ's bumbling sessions and the contrast with a genuinely talented leader was amazing

Merkel always gives clear, workmanlike speeches, but much as I respect her competence & reliability,
she hasn't (so far) shown the gift of inspiring - Varadkar has that quality

His was the best speech I've heard from any politician in a long time
and he has also put in the necessary measures, so not just all show

It wouldn’t surprise me if this is true.

New Trade Bill entrenches government power to do deals behind closed doors

"Today we hear rumours that concrete trade negotiations are currently taking place in secret between the US and the UK. At the same time, the government has introduced a new Trade Bill [1] that entrenches its power to do deals behind closed doors without needing to tell parliament or the people what it is doing. If this feeble excuse for a bill goes through, we could be signed up to a high risk, damaging US trade deal without any democratic control.

www.globaljustice.org.uk/news/2020/mar/19/new-trade-bill-entrenches-government-power-do-deals-behind-closed-doors

What I read (can't find it now) is that UK / USA trade negotiations completely stopped weeks ago

No country atm has the govt bandwidth to adequately consider another important & complex topic in addition to dealing with the worst post-WW2 global crisis

That's a big reason why transition must be extended - the UK won't find anyone else willing to negotiate, for several months,
maybe up to 2 years if everyone first wants to see how the deep global resession / depression works out

Elsewhere, once again I note that any thread mentioning Bozo in an unflattering tone is like saying "Beetlejuice" thrice and C&Pnova is back at her tireless work to big up Bozo, glorify "personal responsibility and community aid" in the face of government inaction, and belittle actual vulnerable people or foreigners. The CV threads are (ironically) nice fresh naïve hosts for infection, whereby the posters there do not yet recognise the wordcloud assault in order to raise an immune response.

Elsewhere, once again I note that any thread mentioning Bozo in an unflattering tone is like saying "Beetlejuice" thrice and C&Pnova is back at her tireless work to big up Bozo,

Judging by the tone of most MN threads mentioned Boris now, they'll have their work cut (and pasted) out for them.

Also Her Madges moment in the sun appears to have gone down like a cup of cold sick, which is an interesting development. Although I'm sure the decision to turn Buck Houses 775 rooms over to the NHS will win her some support.

Back from Sainsburys Bedlam, where the moron press all have BJ's 'Twelve Weeks' soundbite in big letters on the front page. Meanwhile, the army are told to be ready to deply for six months in a month's time.

Meanwhile, the army are told to be ready to deploy for six months in a month's time.

Yeah, lads, take your time. Nothing says "urgent" more than a 2 week lag to deployment.

We had troops halfway to the Falklands by then.

Part of the problem (I think) is the absolute arrogance of the ruling classes (and that's what they are, and that's what it is) in thinking that just like days of old they can decree, whilst the serfs tug forelocks and say "Very good mazzer ...". They appear to have missed the bit where most people watch how their "betters" behave, and then say "well that's for me too".

Nothing Boris has done so far has really shown any sense of urgency, so it's hardly surprising most of the public aren't either. Again, as MN (a great cross-section of normal) shows.

Close the schools ? We might. We might not. Well we have. Sort of. But maybe go in if you can.

Close pubs, clubs and other virus playgrounds ? Well maybe. Maybe not. Doo dah, doo dah.

I hope when the boots hit the ground, and we have soldiers with live rounds patrolling the place, our kids (who really have nothing to compare this too) can managed to stay in.

The Blues and Royals in their Scimitars escorting the Andrex lorry through the angry crowds will be a sight to see.

Elements The underlying blame and criticism of foreigners is noticeable in many of their posts,
but nearly all stay carefully just within MN posting rules
The cumulative effect of such people spreading poison isunquantifiable

Some more on the blood type stuff.

www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3075567/people-blood-type-may-be-more-vulnerable-coronavirus-china-study

Of course, given the level of urgency surrounding this, you'd imagine the UK health services were already on it.

You'd imagine wrong, of course. But I think we should pause and just marvel at the scope of human imagination. After all, some people saw Boris Johnson and imagined a competent, self sacrificing, egalitarian champion of the people.

Lord Farquaad (Shrek):

"Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make"

The drip drip of misinformation and diversion via disingenuous questions, whataboutery and posting of carefully edited information/selective links is an art form in itself.

We all show our bias in one way or another, but few of us practise it expertly and deliberately.

It will certainly be an interesting demographic after all this. Hopefully the people the government have left hung out to dry won't forget in a hurry.

"After all, some people saw Boris Johnson and imagined a competent, self sacrificing, egalitarian champion of the people."

You think? To be completely asleep (as in opposite of "woke", I'm an old woman), and undemocratic, this is the point where I could be quite easily convinced that some sort of basic intelligence test should be administered before someone is allowed to cast their vote in a General Election or referendum. (Only half joking.)